Aftermath
by SkyTheLoner
Summary: A collection of drabbles about the days after Steven entered his(mom's) room and created a storm.
1. Chapter I: Roses

**Hey everyone who bothered to check this out!**

 **So, after watching the newest episode, _Storm in the Room,_ I was randomly inspired to write a few _Steven Universe_ drabbles. This fanfiction is a collection of those drabbles.**

 _ **Roses**_

 _ **Steven wonders if Pink Diamond liked roses.**_

* * *

Steven stares at the dark night sky, and he tries to count the stars as they glitter. He's looking through his pink shield, his mom's shield, really. His mother's named was Rose Quartz. She was named after a rose.

Pink Diamond named Rose's kind after an _organic_ floral plant. Steven sighs. Named. Past tense. He remembers her zoo. Her palanquin.

He wonders if she liked roses. Liked.


	2. Chapter II: Pink

**Hey, this is the second chapter, and I'm not sure what else to say, so...**

 _ **Pink**_

 _ **Steven dyes his hair. Rose pink, like his mom's**_

* * *

There's a long silence before the Gems spoke. The trio stares at his newly dyed hair, then at each other. Pearl spoke first.

"Oh, Steven," she whispers, "It's... beautiful." Her eyes look both sad and happy as she leans down to gently hug him quickly. There are tears in her eyes as she glances at him and the painting of his mom. "I like the color," she adds with a seemingly forced smile.

"Hey, Steven," Amethyst says suddenly, "Since Pearl is too much of a lovesick-"

"And heartbroken," Garnet adds, placing a hand on the purple Gem's shoulder. "Since the Gem who saved her is gone."

"Yeah," Amethyst mutters. "As I was saying: a lovesick coward to say it, your hair makes you look like Rose."

Steven grins awkwardly. "That's the point."

No one says anything for a while after that.


	3. Chapter III: Sorry

**Hi. Ummm... this is the third chapter. I'm not really good at writing author notes, as you can see.**

 _ **Sorry**_

 _ **Steven visits an old friend to talk.**_

* * *

"Hey, Centi," Steven greets the partly corrupted Gem, sighing, and he sleepily waves to her. "Nice to see you again."

" _Steven!"_ Centi squeals happily, and Steven notices she looks a lot better now. Her outfit looks different and more like the standard Homeworld suit. There's a diamond on it.

It's yellow. Steven sighs in relief. _Not pink._

Centi's single eye, also her gem, shows concern. " _Steven?_ " She points to the diamond. " _My... Diamond,_ " she mutters.

"She..." He looks up with a sad gaze. "She hurt you. _Everyone_ ," Steven whispers. " _Just like my mom._ " They both had their reasons. "I'm sorry about the war."

Steven embraces her, and he hears crying.


	4. Chapter IV: War

**Hi, this is the fourth chapter of this collection of drabbles.**

 _ **War**_

 _ **Steven and Amethyst talk about the war and the future.**_

* * *

"H-hey, ummm..." Steven started to say, feeling very nervous, fleetingly meeting the other Gem's gaze. "Amethyst?" He walks forward carefully.

"What the problem?" Amethyst asks him, bit concerned. "Look, Holly Blue's not gonna tell 'em. We'll be fine."

"Amethyst, so you were made on Earth, right?"

The purple Quartz blinks, mildly surprised, but she still nodded. "Yeah."

"So, if," Steven says nervously, sitting down beside her on the beach, "You can out of the Kindergarten on time, you would have fought against us, right?"

"Well... Y-yeah," she mutters, warping an arm around Steven protectively.

"Earth was her colony, and I guess the Diamonds are the closest thing Gems have to a mom."

"Pink Diamond?" Amethyst wonders out loud. "And... I guess. But who would want a mom who's a yellow giraffe and clod hybrid? AKA: Yellow Diamond."

He grimaces at her words, because he feels a bit sorry for her now.

"Oh," Amethyst mutters finally. "Yeah, I guess she's my mom. Rose was too, you know?"

"So your foster mom or something killed your real mom."

"And your mom killed your grandma."

"And her sisters made a nuke." There's a long silence.

"Let's never talk about this again."

"Okay."

"So, if those sisters come to Earth, we're gonna win to fight," she promises him, hugging him. "Now, let's go practice yo-yo tricks or something equally unproductive!"

Steven laughs. "Okay."


	5. Chapter V: Morning of Mourning

Steven can't help but notice the faraway look in his guardian's eyes as she cleans the dishes, focused too much on a speck of food. Her slender hands are drenched in dish soap, and she silently washes another plate carefully, too robotic for his liking. He sees her glancing at a decorated vase of pale pink roses ever so often.

He finally stops just watching her, walking over to her to help. She says nothing, but she lets him assist her in her chore.

There's more silence, but Pearl doesn't seem to mind it. She swiftly puts the dishes away, spinning and dancing as she does. She twirls, her eyes revealing that her mind is in another time, one that Rose Quartz didn't enter in yet. Soon, but not yet.

So Steven smiles a bit, and he claps a few times. It takes him a second to realize that after the first clap, Pearl freezes, her footsteps no longer a sound. The gem sighs loudly, placing a hand on his head in a motherly way. But he doesn't really understand what a mother is, since she's gone.

She's gone, he remembers, his gaze meeting hers. He never got to meet her.

Pearl closes her eyes for a moment, clearly thinking, then nods. She would have loved to see him.

The morning sun shines through the window as the two of them stand in silence, mourning.


	6. Chapter VI: Falling

**Chapter VI: Falling**

 _ **Steven dreams.**_

He's falling.

The wind is racing pass him as his limbs uselessly grab at a cloud. There's no air in his lungs, and he can't inhale a breath no matter how many times he tries. The ship is long gone, swirling away into the cold darkness of space. There is a circle of clouds left behind.

Steven thinks that he's going to die now, but probably not just yet. No, he'll crash into the broken, rusted palanquin, and his frail organic human body with crack and break on the ground. Tears begin to leak from his eyes.

No...

No...

Not yet. Not now. His lips part so that he can gasp out a protest against this fate. The screaming of the wind drowns his faint cry of, _"Please, don't._ " It's not fair. She can't-

But she had. And with a happy and sickening grin that was too surreal to be anything but an illusion plastered on her face, she did.

And Steven was powerless to stop her.

Then he wakes up and thinks, _And_ _nothing can stop her from returning._

Nothing the Crystal Gems could do could stop _them_.


	7. Chapter VII: Lost

**So, this is a thing.**

 **Lost**

Stevonnie leans against a tall metallic tower, their breathing heavy and rapid as they try to calm down. _It's alright,_ they think to themselves as they carefully comb bits of debris from their hair. _She's not chasing us anymore._ Their sword - the one that belonged to Rose Quartz - is still in their hand. The ship that they crashed here is destroyed and in pieces. They wonder if this planet is colonized by gemkind and they shiver, remembering her warning about telling the diamonds about their thievery.

Wait. No, Emerald said that she would tell _her_ diamond about this. Was it Yellow Diamond? Or Blue?

Stevonnie sighs, pushing themselves up to pick through the rubble for something of interest.

The ship is in pieces, with bits of the wings littered around them as they avoid stepping on any of it. A large gun from them ship is out in the open and they lean down to pick it up, placing it on their shoulder. They stumble slightly under the weight of it, but they manage to pull the trigger. There's a sharp bang sound as the energy beam fires and the recoil from the blast knocks them down.

Stumbling to their feet, they notice smoke rising from the weapon. _Well, it's broken._

They look around for a bit more, finding nothing else is working, except for a device that sends out a distress signal. They freeze as it lets out a high pitched noise.

 _We should leave, right?_ This is Steven.

Connie replies, _Yeah, we should._

Stevonnie races away into the unknown.


	8. Chapter VIII: She Did

**She Did**

He just stands there for about five minutes, before tears finally start to drip from his eyes.

Pearl stands behind him, and he glances at her, her pale eyes looking back at him. She looks hurt and confused.

"I'm sorry," he chokes out, his voice hoarse.

"Please don't be."

"She hurt you," he whispers. "My mom hurt you."

For a moment, it looks like Pearl looked like she wanted to protest, to disagree. She sighed. "She did."

"If her order still effects you... are you even free?" And Steven walks towards her.

Leaning down to hug him, she simply replies, "I don't know."


	9. Chapter IX: Reunion

**Reunion**

At first, there is a stunned silence between the three pearls, yellow eyes meeting blue, then another set of probably blue eyes. Yellow Diamond's pearl - Yellow Pearl, he decided to call her - glanced up at her diamond, eyes wide.

Yellow Diamond gave no indication she noticed.

"Wha-" She can't seem to get her words out, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, while Blue Pearl said nothing, her head turned towards Pearl.

Pearl let go of Steven's hand, glanced at him, then walked forward. There was only the sound of her footsteps.

"Hey," she greeted softly, giving them a hesitant wave.

Yellow Pearl took a step forward. _"You're back."_


	10. Chapter X: Delusion

White Diamond had considered herself to be prefect.

After all, she was without emotion. She had expelled the yellow, the blue and the pink light from her form. The illogical anger, the pointless sadness, and the unless happiness were gone. And yet, she still had them.

Her light was white, a combination of every color, hidden.

She stared at her long, pitch black nails, razor sharp, and then shifted her gaze to the small human in front of her.

 _His_ name was Steven.

He stared up at her with a nervous gaze. Ah, right. She had torn him apart in a literal yet figurative way. He was scared of her.

She... had made a mistake.

She wasn't perfect, and it had taken her death for her to recognize her delusion.


End file.
